On transition temperatures in the plasticity

and fracture of semiconductors

Authors: P. Pirouz a; J. L. Demenet b; M. H. Hong a
Affiliations: a Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western
Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
b Laboratoire de Mtallurgique Physique (Unit Mixte de Recherche associe au CNRS
630), SP2MI, Universit de Poitiers, Futuroscope Cedex, France

DOI: 10.1080/01418610108214437
Published in: Philosophical Magazine A, Volume 81, Issue 5 May 2001 , pages 1207 -
1227
Number of References: 73
Formats available: PDF (English)
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Abstract
Recent experiments on deformation of semiconductors show an abrupt change in the
variation in the critical resolved shear stress τY with temperature T. This implies a
change in the deformation mechanism at a critical temperature Tc. In the cases examined
so far in our laboratories (Case Western Reserve University and Poitiers) and elsewhere,
this critical temperature appears to coincide approximately with the brittle-to-ductile
transition temperature TBDT. In this paper, new deformation experiments performed on
the wide-bandgap semiconductor 4H-SiC over a range of temperatures at two strain rates
are described together with a transmission electron microscopy characterization of
induced dislocations below and above Tc. Based on these, and results recently reported
on a few III-V compound semiconductors, a new model for the deformation of
tetrahedrally coordinated materials at low and high temperatures is proposed, and the
relation of the transition in deformation mode to the transition in fracture mode (brittle to
ductile) is discussed